(9 ratings, average: 3,78 out of 5)

During times of economic uncertainty, more and more people are faced with collection agencies. There are quite a few similar organizations, but perhaps the most famous of them is Sentinel Credit Management.

Information about the collection agency "Sentinel Credit Management"

This is a professional collection agency that provides services for collecting partial or full debts. Its field of activity includes pre-trial collection - remote and on-site, and the organization also accompanies collection within the framework of legal proceedings.

The main founder of Sentinel Credit Management LLC is Alfa-Bank LLC. This collection agency has been observed in cooperation with a large number of banks and MFOs (micro financial organizations). Major partners are VTB, Home Credit Bank, Tinkoff. The geography of the organization's work is about 100 cities in Russia.

The scheme for an agency to receive work from a bank is simple:

1. Issuance by a bank or other credit institution of a loan to a borrower.
2. After some period of time, payments according to the schedule stop, or the borrower refuses to repay the loan and becomes a debtor.
3. The bank decides to contact a collection agency to begin the process of collecting debt funds.
4. The collection agency has already officially begun work on collecting debt funds.

Positively designed website of the collection agency "Sentinel Credit Management"

There are few precedents that speak of real threats from Sentinel collectors, but they do exist.

Basic operating methods of Sentinel collectors:

1. Sending letters and notifications indicating the amount of debt, requirements and terms of its repayment.
2. Conducting verbal negotiations with the borrowers themselves.
3. Collectors have the right to seize the debtor's collateral property and ensure its (property) storage.
4. Constant interaction with law enforcement agencies on issues of debt obligations of the borrower.

The above methods are methods of out-of-court (pre-trial) settlement. Regarding methods within the framework of legal proceedings, they are as follows:

1. Legal analysis of documentation provided by the bank.
2. Seeking a settlement in court.
3. Filing a claim.
4. Collectors are representatives of the bank in court.
5. Presentation of enforcement documents to the bailiff service and support of enforcement proceedings.

The collection agency's benefits from its work are quite large. It turns out in the area 10% of the debt amount, if the bank simply hired an agency. If the debt obligations were sold, then the collection agency pays around 30-40% of the debt amount to the bank and keeps the rest for itself. That is why there are minimal claims from collectors. Their earnings directly depend on the interest imposed on overdue debts.

From what is written above, it becomes clear why collectors behave so aggressively when communicating with borrowers and resort to the use of threats and illegal actions.

Examples of inappropriate behavior on the part of Sentinel collectors

There are quite a lot of such examples. Oddly enough, in most cases found on the Internet, they complain about the inappropriate behavior of the Sentinel agency’s collectors regarding erroneous calls and demands to repay non-existent debt.

The point is that a certain collector representing Sentinel Credit Management LLC calls a person on the phone and demands to repay the debt on a loan that this person allegedly issued and did not pay on time. But in fact, there is no debt, much less debt. This is a common case - a successful mistake of such collectors. In some cases, a person is so pestered with calls and threats that he pays off the mythical loan debt. In such cases, you should record the conversation with the collectors and go to the prosecutor. How to find out your ID debt, read

Another example of inappropriate behavior is pressure on relatives, namely older people (grandparents and elderly parents). In some cases, such pressure on them leads to health problems. In order to prevent collectors from touching the borrower’s relatives, you should also contact the prosecutor or the police, since such actions directly contradict the laws of the Russian Federation.

There are often examples of how debt collectors directly threaten the health and life of the debtor or his family members. Again, in this case, you should record the conversations and threats of the collectors and send these recordings to law enforcement agencies.

A particular example of inappropriate behavior based on a story that occurred in Moscow. Two men were banging on the door of a citizen who was in her apartment with her sister and children. Men broke down doors and shouted various threats. As it turned out later, these were collectors from the Sentinel agency who wanted to demand that the debtor pay off the loan debt. Both were taken to the police station.

The Association of Collectors NAPKA stopped the membership of the Sentinel Credit Management (SCM) agency, owned by Alfa Bank. Experts say that SCM was suspended for “lawlessness.”

Unexpectedly, the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies announced that as of June 1, the Sentinel Credit Management agency was excluded from NAPCA.

“At the end of 2015, the association received the largest number of complaints about this company. There were complaints about incorrect communication with debtors, there were publications in the press about threats to debtors, which became the reason for the audit,” said Dmitry Teplits, head of the NAPCA control committee.

It should be noted that 95% of the work of Sentinel Credit Management is provided by Alfa Bank, which is the founder of the collection agency.

SCM is threatening Alpha borrowers: they are insulting them over the phone, people have repeatedly contacted the prosecutor’s office.

True, one of the residents of Omsk was able to recover 30 thousand rubles from Alfa Bank and 100 thousand rubles from the Sentinel Credit Management company as compensation for moral damage. In this case, the collectors planted leaflets with offensive text at her place of work!

Even the agency employees don't like working there. The footage is leaking. “I will say that working there is quite difficult! After all, the team itself is quite heavy, so the atmosphere is quite heavy! And in terms of work, it seems to me, they demand a lot, but in return they pay an insufficient amount! So I can’t recommend it to you! It’s worth going there as a last resort! And even then, you should think three times whether it’s worth going there!”, advises former SCM employee Kirill.

Alpha's forceful methods

But market participants say that the situation was influenced by an episode in 2014, when representatives of Alfa Bank, accompanied by a group of armed people from Alfa Shield, a private security company affiliated with the bank, and, presumably, SCM, arrived at a business center controlled by Kopernik Group and actually attempted a “raider takeover.”

This story was included in the report of the National Anti-Corruption Committee “The dominance of bank raiding as a trend in the seizure and redistribution of property in Russia in the period 2009 - 2011.”

In July 2014, the history of Stroyfarfor, around which a conflict broke out with the participation of Alfa Bank, Sberbank and businessmen Leonid Mayevsky and Lazar Shaulov, ended with a banal raider takeover. 50 armed people burst into the territory of the plant. Experts then suspected Alpha structures of resolving the conflict by force.

Thus, on July 11, 50 people armed with traumatic and bladed weapons entered the territory of the Stroyfarfor plant and seized part of the plant management building.

We emphasize that a bailiff entered the plant with the attackers, who had a decree in his hands prohibiting Mr. Mayevsky from managing Stroyfarfor. A representative of the press service connected what was happening with a corporate conflict between the owner of the plant and the manager.

A few hours later, Ilya Udovichenko, appointed by the sole shareholder of Stroyfarfor OJSC Lazar Shaulov as the general director of the enterprise back in October 2013, began to perform his duties.

Raider takeovers

By the way, the Alfa Bank takeover scheme is well described in the Versions.com magazine. The raiding strategy of Alfa Bank is similar in all cases: a loan agreement, obtaining collateral, demanding additional security for the loan, in the case of a building materials plant - in the form of corporate rights.

And then: stopping financing (after all, the collateral business costs more than the interest on the loan), changing management, seizing charter documents and seals, bribing judges and declaring oneself as the new owner.

Alfa Bank does not provide money for business development. This banking institution “uses the credit mechanism to appropriate production,” according to Versiya.com journalists.

Thus, Alfa Bank forced businessman Ivan Vinnik to cede his share in the authorized capital of the enterprise in favor of the bank, under the guise of the need for additional security for the loan. Under the threat of non-issuance of financing, the bank forced the entrepreneur to sell his corporate rights to the Cypriot offshore company Natavile Limited for UAH 42 thousand. . Ivan Vinnik was left with a minority stake and faith in the honesty of the pseudo-bank.

It should be noted that representatives of RUSAL Oleg Deripaska also accused Alfa Bank of raiding. The billionaire's company even filed bankruptcy claims for two enterprises of the group - the Siberian-Ural Aluminum Company (SUAL) and the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant (KrAZ), accusing Alpha of attempting to raid.

Soft power "Alpha"

Alpha also has softer forms of asset alienation. Thus, this month Alfa Bank filed a bankruptcy claim against shoe retailer Carlo Pazolini. Experts believe that the financial institution wants to acquire the asset.

It is interesting that, in addition to the bankruptcy claim, the bank filed a claim with the Moscow Arbitration Court for the collection of debt under two credit lines dated 2012 for $11 million and 8.4 million euros from three foreign structures of the retailer - Carlo Pazolini Trade limited, Carlo LLP Pasolini Participation" and Carlo Pazolini (Switzerland) S.A.

In 2015, the situation in the Russian footwear market worsened sharply due to the devaluation of the ruble.

Carlo Pazolini deliberately suspended interest and principal payments, repaying “half, a very large amount.” The company offered to discuss the terms of payment for the second half of the debt, but the bank did not cooperate! The company wanted to restructure the debt, but apparently, Alfa does not need repayment of the loan, but Carlo Pazolini.

The lender has an industrial park in Pushkin worth more than 1 billion rubles as collateral, which Alfa is targeting.

The bank has already filed a claim with the Moscow Arbitration Court to recover 1.78 billion rubles. with A Plus Park Pushkin LLC and ISK Baltic-Stroy LLC, members of the A Plus Development group, follows from the materials of the court file.

“A Plus Pushkin Park” is one of seven industrial complexes of A Plus Development. The company had a building fire with an area of ​​14,000 square meters. m in Pushkin Park, because of which the problems began.

The property was insured by AlfaStrakhovanie, the documents were sent to the insurer and the developer is awaiting a decision on payment. The funds will be used to repay the principal debt on the loan. But Alfastrakhovanie is trying not to pay.

Let us note that Alfa Bank seems to have learned a lot from the bankruptcy of Master Bank. After all, Mikhail Fridman’s bank opens its offices on the site of Master Bank branches, and he also connected Master Bank ATMs to his system. Perhaps it was the Alpha structures that could organize an attack on Master in order to take away the processing assets of this bank. However, all this is just a version for now.

And the former owner of the Baltic Bank, Andrei Isaev, declared himself after a forced “recovery” and filed claims against the Bank of Russia and the new owner of BB, Alfa Bank.

Isaev, who owned about 49% of shares in it before the reorganization, demands that the reduction of the bank’s authorized capital to 1 ruble be declared invalid. The plaintiff also demands that the additional issue of shares, almost 88.9% of which was purchased by the sanator bank, be declared invalid.

Note that the shares of the former owners of the bank Andrey Isaev (through the Baltic Trading House) and Oleg Shigaev, who each owned 49.877%, were diluted during the additional issue to 0.000005%. This kind of removal of former owners from the management of the bank being reorganized is one of the reorganization mechanisms provided for by law.

The suspension of membership in NAPKA Sentinel Credit Management is a serious blow to the reputation of Alfa Bank. After all, it turns out that the financial group’s collectors actually chose “gangster methods” to collect debts. Perhaps soon law enforcement agencies will become interested in the bank's private security companies.

The collection agency "SCM" shares the practice of introducing robotics, operating in conjunction with human intelligence, as part of the process of judicial collection of overdue debts.

Over the past two years, the robotization trend has been actively developing in the collection business environment. Today, some collection agencies are ambitiously announcing the use of artificial intelligence and even its highest form - neural networks - at the stage of judicial collection. It sounds impressive, but if you stop juggling with beautiful terms, then artificial intelligence is the ability of automated systems to perform creative functions that are traditionally considered the prerogative of humans. The idea of ​​using neural networks is to model as accurately as possible the functioning of the human nervous system, namely its ability to learn and correct errors. This is the main feature of any neural network - it is able to learn independently and act based on previous experience, making fewer and fewer errors each time. In other words, neural networks are mathematical models that work on the principle of networks of nerve cells in the human brain.

In existing legal collection process automation systems, there is no artificial intelligence as such, but there is a multi-level degree of said automation. In the SCM collection agency, this level is the highest, while the robotic algorithm does not work independently according to the principle of the human brain: this same brain constantly improves and accompanies it.

— The SCM company began large-scale automation of legal processes back in 2009, as a division of Alfa Bank, and in 2012 it switched to full-fledged robotization of the process. However, the robot itself is imperfect at the stage of supporting judicial and enforcement proceedings: it cannot learn autonomously and improve the quality of its work, it cannot give an individual assessment of the situation, making an analysis of specific legal cases or making decisions that go beyond the scope of its algorithm, — explains the Chairman of the Board of SCMOlga Mazurova .

In 2015, the company introduced its own know-how - an intelligent system for supporting legal proceedings, which is an effective mix of interaction between a robot and a person in the field of collection. Thus, when selecting contracts for the stage of legal proceedings, the so-called legal scoring is used - mathematical models with good predictive ability are used, which make it possible, based on an in-depth analysis of historical data, to identify the “correct” debts to obtain maximum results at minimum costs.

Before filing a lawsuit, any debt collector decides on a number of questions: which agreements are most appropriate to sue, what kind of increase in recovery will come from sending a particular case to court, and is it necessary to sue those who already pay, but, for example, not regularly? The company relied on mathematical models implemented on the SAS platform. Over the course of a year, the approach to transferring cases to court, based on legal scoring, doubled the efficiency of forced collection (legal + soft/hard) (from the moment the court made a decision to satisfy the creditor’s claims). Of 100% of debtors whose contracts are selected for transfer to court using scoring (the time spent on the process is calculated in minutes, not hours or days), 63% begin to pay their debts. For comparison: in cases where contracts for legal proceedings are painstakingly and lengthily selected by a group of experts, only 45% of debtors begin to pay after the trial. It turns out that an additional 18%, with savings in time and human resources, is provided by a mathematical model that selects, among a gigantic volume of data, according to correctly found criteria, the pool of contracts that is most rational for legal proceedings.

Currently, the SCM Analytics Department has developed and tested in practice several scoring models that have reduced the cost of legal proceedings and increased the efficiency of judicial collection. The probabilistic model, in a very short period of time and with minimal error, identifies those debtors who will repay the debt at the stage of forced collection.

The forecast model for the delta of the increase in payment gives a more detailed forecast or another assessment - in what period and in what volume the debtor will be able to make payments at the stage of forced collection.

Now at the final stage of development there is a behavioral model that determines for each individual contract how the result will change if any tool is added to the legal process (for example, a specialist visiting the debtor or calling the defaulter).

Thus, thanks to correct analytics, even before submitting the contract to the court, the company receives financial prospects for collection for each individual debtor. Then, at the next stage, the automated judicial conveyor begins to work with the selected contracts.

The very first and most difficult problem that was solved through robotization was the automatic determination of jurisdiction at the debtor’s address. The software module establishes the details for paying state fees and the address of the relevant judicial authority for each agreement, and also takes into account the requirements imposed by a specific judicial district/court for the submitted documentation.

— Many collectors, not having such opportunities to automatically determine jurisdiction, prefer to turn to outsourcing organizations for the appropriate service. This is also a way out, but this path increases the cost of collection at the legal stage, including due to an erroneously determined jurisdiction, notes the director of the legal department of SCM. Stanislav Kurkin .

After determining the jurisdiction for each case, a package of documents is gradually automatically generated and printed: an application for a court order or a statement of claim (depending on the type of proceeding), debt calculation, a copy of the loan terms, a payment order for payment of state fees, necessary petitions, etc. Then the package of documents is sent to the court through the Russian Post service.

When the application is accepted by the court for consideration, employees of a specialized call center are involved in the work, who monitor cases and, in particular, process requests from judges, working according to the formed “decision tree”. Having received feedback, the specialist immediately determines in what manner to conduct a dialogue with a representative of the judicial authority - for each typical case a different set of actions has been developed.

— At this stage of development of legal technologies, changing the logic of support for each individual group of cases can only be worked out by a person - a competent lawyer. The stage of forming and sending a case to court is fully automated, however, when it comes to supporting the case in court and direct interaction with representatives of Themis, human resources come to the fore. This model of interaction makes the process flexible, because a person, unlike a robot, is able to demonstrate the skills of emotional intelligence - to distinguish the emotions of the interlocutor, adapt to him, choosing the tone and manner of conversation and thereby achieving a given negotiation goal, says the head of SCM.

“Smart” data analysis, high professional competence of SCM lawyers and the capabilities of the robot are three significant elements of the company’s intelligent legal collection system. This symbiosis has reduced the time it takes to receive judicial acts, optimized resources for supporting cases in the courts and increased the efficiency of closing cases in different generations of filing within the framework of both writ and lawsuit proceedings. The company has also achieved excellent results in appealing court decisions: 80% of decisions to return applications or refuse to consider them are appealed, and in 80% of cases, SCM lawyers receive a positive result.

— For us, legal collection is a powerful tool for collecting overdue debts at a later date. It includes the technology of the IT complex, the results of mining in analytics, the highly developed competencies of the legal department employees in the field of law and the company’s excellent reputation in the judiciary. All these components are linked into a single system, which allows day after day to increase the efficiency of compulsory debt collection and is one of the main competitive advantages of SCM in the collection market,” summarizes Olga Mazurova.

Many borrowers and credit card holders are faced with late monthly payments, which leads to the appearance of debt and a subsequent increase in its amount.

As a rule, banks accommodate customers halfway, offering installment plans, “credit holidays” and other ways to overcome the current situation. However, in some cases, the debt is transferred to a collection agency.

Reasons for transferring debt from Alfa-Bank to collectors

In most cases, or credit card occurs unintentionally. The reason for failure to make a monthly payment may be:

• dismissal of the borrower from his position;
• reduction in the salary received by a person;
• the appearance of a new dependent;
• deterioration in the health of the payer or the health of his family members;
• temporary loss of ability to work by the client;
• the emergence of unexpected financial costs.

If you unintentionally avoid paying your debt and have a good reason for the loan being overdue, contact the nearest Alfa-Bank branch for debt restructuring.

It is important to have with you documentary evidence of the existence of problems (for example, a medical certificate of health, a copy of the work book with a record of dismissal, etc.).

In order to resolve this problem in the future and avoid transferring the debt to a collection agency, it is important to repay the debt on time and no longer be late in payment.

If the client does not have valid reasons for missing the loan payment deadline or deliberately avoids repaying it, he can expect a meeting with Alfa-Bank collectors. The telephone number specified in the agreement concluded with the bank will be used by specialists to notify the debtor of the need to pay the loan.

LLC "SCM" - collectors of Alfa-Bank

Sentinel Credit Management LLC is a collection agency owned by Alfa-Bank JSC. Formally, the directorate for the collection of overdue debts was created by the bank in 2007, although the legal entity SCM itself was registered later - in 2011.

Five years later, the company took first place in the state register of collection agencies.

The main areas of work of SCM:

• interaction with the creditor regarding ways to pay off the debt;
• carrying out activities aimed at paying the debtor for the existing loan;
• support of the collection process at the stage of litigation and/or enforcement proceedings.

SCM from Alfa-Bank complies with the provisions of Russian legislation and ethical standards of behavior, acting within the framework of the law. At the initial stage of receiving existing debt from the borrower, company employees negotiate by phone.

If the client avoids paying the debt, collectors move on to more active actions - personal meetings with field managers.

Regulation of collection agencies

The procedure for debt collectors to work with debtors is established by Federal Law No. 230 of July 3, 2016. Employees of such agencies cannot use physical force against debtor borrowers, threaten them, damage their property, or exert psychological influence on citizens and their family members.

Russian legislation allows the following methods of interaction between collectors and debtors:

• conducting telephone conversations;
• exchange of text, voice and other messages;
• sending letters;
• organization of personal meetings.

At the same time, communicating with a collector by phone or meeting with a field manager is permissible during the hours established by law: from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends and non-working days.

If an employee of a collection agency violates the rights of a debtor, it is necessary to file a corresponding complaint against a specific collector to his manager.

As a rule, this is enough to stop unlawful actions on the part of an official. If filing a complaint does not help, the complaint is sent to the court, the territorial department of the FSSP or the prosecutor's office.

How to avoid problems with collectors?

If Alfa-Bank transferred your debt to SCM LLC or another collection agency, you should not avoid contact with its representatives. The purpose of the negotiations in this case is to find the best ways to help the debtor and take measures to pay off the existing debt.

If you can repay the loan in whole or in part, inform the agency manager about this. A way to pay off a debt can be refinancing a loan with another bank, borrowing money from close relatives or friends, looking for additional income, selling expensive property, etc.

Negotiating with debt collectors is a way to avoid taking your case to court. If the bailiffs initiate enforcement proceedings, the amount of the existing debt will in any case be forcibly collected from you.

The FSSP has the right to seize the debtor’s property, seize it and put it up for auction for the purpose of selling and paying off the debt with the proceeds.

If your debt was transferred to SCM LLC, contact Alfa-Bank collectors at the phone number listed below:

• 8-800-222-04-63 (if there is a debt to yourself);
• 8-800-222-04-98 (if the creditor is another financial organization).

The numbers of Alfa-Bank collectors can be found on the official website of SCM LLC in the “Debtors” section.

If you receive SMS messages about the need to repay loan debt, but you did not apply for this loan, inform the agency managers about this. This can be done by calling the numbers listed above, contacting the company office, or by filling out an electronic application form on the SCM LLC website.